Sterling enters the week close to its strongest level against the US dollar in 10 months amidst the greenback’s recent weakness. GBP/USD gains on a monthly footing stretch to nearly 2 per cent.
Against the euro, sterling has done the opposite, losing around 0.8% weekly and just over 1 and a half percent monthly against the single currency.
Today markets will hear three speeches in total from key ECB members: members of the supervisory board, McCaul, who spoke earlier at 8:30 and Tuominen who will speak at 10am, followed by ECB president, Lagarde, who will speak at 4pm.
Euro watchers will be listening closely for any hawkish comments, as these could possibly boost the single currency.
In the stock markets last week, the Dow ended the day over 140 points lower on Friday. Meanwhile the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 lost 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively, as earnings (and other economic data) gave the US Federal Reserve more room to continue with rate hikes.
This morning, the dollar index (DXY) rose toward 102, rebounding further from the one-year lows it hit recently. According to economists, this comes after signs of a stronger US economy boosted market expectations for another Fed interest rate hike in May.
Tomorrow, market watchers will see key data releases across all three of our major currency zones, in the form of unemployment data from the UK , Germany’s Zew economic indicator for the eurozone and building permits from the US.
Also on Tuesday, China will release its latest GDP growth rate data, while on Wednesday, the UK will see inflation.
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